CROSS COUNTRY

CROSS COUNTRY; National Title Is at Stake For Three Dominant Girls

By MARC BLOOM

Published: December 8, 2001

One girl, from Massachusetts, broke the state-meet course record by more than 30 seconds. A girl from Illinois improved with coaching from an Olympic marathoner. And a girl from California has rejected major-college running in favor of a small school, and plans to work on the environment.

But what Natasha Roetter, Erika Odlaug and Amber Trotter have in common is that each is undefeated this season and far ahead of the opposition, setting up a showdown today in the 23rd Foot Locker high school cross-country championships in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

Last fall, Dathan Ritzenhein and Alan Webb were the talk of the cross-country season. At the Foot Locker meet, contested over 5,000 meters (3.1 miles) on a golf course on the grounds of Disney World, Ritzenhein defeated Webb by 20 seconds. That loss spurred Webb on. In January he broke four minutes in the mile indoors, running 3 minutes 59.86 seconds at the Armory Track and Field Center in Manhattan. Then he ran a world-class 3:53.43 outdoors last June in Eugene, Ore.

Now the girls have captured the spotlight. Roetter, a senior at Lexington High School, outside Boston, won her second straight Northeast Regional title Nov. 24 at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx. She won by 75 yards in 17:48 for the hilly 5,000 meters, becoming the second girl to win two Northeast titles in a row.

Last year, Roetter placed fourth in the national meet. This fall, she has had to practice with the Lexington boys' team to be challenged. Regarding her chances today, Roetter, who has signed with Duke, said, ''It's good to have people pushing me.''

Roetter's coach, Phil Crosby, believes that going into the nationals she is 20 to 30 seconds faster than last season at 5,000 meters. Indeed, at the Massachusetts state meet on Nov. 17, Roetter raced the hilly course in Grafton in 17:32 to shatter her course record by 31 seconds. Her margin of victory was 46 seconds.

In the Chicago area, Odlaug, a Colorado-bound senior at Deerfield High School, has also lacked competition, using most meets as training runs. She recovered from a week's illness to win the Midwest Regional on Nov. 24 in Kenosha, Wis., by 19 seconds. Her 5,000 time on a rain-soaked course was 17:49. She has won all 13 races this season, with 12 course records.

Odlaug, who first showed her running prowess in soccer, has received a boost from Jenny Spangler, the 1996 women's Olympic Trials marathon winner. Spangler has coached Odlaug over the summer and in the past month since her regular high school season ended.

''Soccer gave Erika strong muscles, and she's added to it with weight training,'' Spangler said. ''I've seen her handle more weight than some of the guys on her team.''

After giving up soccer, Odlaug became a full-time runner last year and feels she has barely scratched the surface of her potential.

''For me, running is art, a form of self-expression,'' Odlaug said. ''I like to try and make it look effortless.''

For Trotter, a senior at Ukiah High School in the Northern California countryside, self-expression is rolling up her sleeves and getting her fingernails dirty. Trotter is president of her school's environmental club and nurtures a 40-foot greenhouse at her home in Redwood Valley. She has applied to Middlebury, a Division III college in Vermont, to study environmental science.

''I would like to do environmental research in third-world countries,'' Trotter said. ''I know I will always run but don't want to pursue running as a career.''

Last Saturday in Walnut, Calif., Trotter captured the West Regional by 43 seconds in 17:14 for 5,000 meters. She burned off all challengers with a 5:08 opening mile.